Genesis 17:10-14

17:10 This is my requirement that you and your descendants after you must keep: ¹  Every male among you must be circumcised. ²  17:11 You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskins. This will be a reminder ³  of the covenant between me and you. 17:12 Throughout your generations every male among you who is eight days old ⁴  must be circumcised, whether born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not one of your descendants. 17:13 They must indeed be circumcised, ⁵  whether born in your house or bought with money. The sign of my covenant ⁶  will be visible in your flesh as a permanent ⁷  reminder. 17:14 Any uncircumcised male ⁸  who has not been circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin will be cut off ⁹  from his people – he has failed to carry out my requirement.” ¹⁰ 

Deuteronomy 10:16

10:16 Therefore, cleanse ¹¹  your heart and stop being so stubborn! ¹² 

Deuteronomy 30:6

30:6 The Lord your God will also cleanse ¹³  your heart and the hearts of your descendants ¹⁴  so that you may love him ¹⁵  with all your mind and being and so that you may live.

Romans 2:29

2:29 but someone is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart ¹⁶  by the Spirit ¹⁷  and not by the written code. ¹⁸  This person’s ¹⁹  praise is not from people but from God.

Romans 4:11

4:11 And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised, ²⁰  so that he would become ²¹  the father of all those who believe but have never been circumcised, ²²  that they too could have righteousness credited to them.

Colossians 2:11

2:11 In him you also were circumcised – not, however, ²³  with a circumcision performed by human hands, but by the removal ²⁴  of the fleshly body, ²⁵  that is, ²⁶  through the circumcision done by Christ.

¹ tn Heb “This is my covenant that you must keep between me and you and your descendants after you.”

² sn For a discussion of male circumcision as the sign of the covenant in this passage see M. V. Fox, “The Sign of the Covenant: Circumcision in the Light of the Priestly ‘ot Etiologies,” RB 81 (1974): 557-96.

³ tn Or “sign.”

⁴ tn Heb “the son of eight days.”

⁵ tn The emphatic construction employs the Niphal imperfect tense (collective singular) and the Niphal infinitive.

⁶ tn Heb “my covenant.” Here in v. 13 the Hebrew word בְּרִית (bÿrit) refers to the outward, visible sign, or reminder, of the covenant. For the range of meaning of the term, see the note on the word “requirement” in v. 9.

⁷ tn Or “an eternal.”

⁸ tn The disjunctive clause calls attention to the “uncircumcised male” and what will happen to him.

⁹ tn Heb “that person will be cut off.” The words “that person” have not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹⁰ tn Heb “he has broken my covenant.” The noun בְּרִית (bÿrit) here refers to the obligation required by God in conjunction with the covenantal agreement. For the range of meaning of the term, see the note on the word “requirement” in v. 9.

¹¹ tn Heb “circumcise the foreskin of” (cf. KJV, ASV, NRSV). Reference to the Abrahamic covenant prompts Moses to recall the sign of that covenant, namely, physical circumcision (Gen 17:9-14). Just as that act signified total covenant obedience, so spiritual circumcision (cleansing of the heart) signifies more internally a commitment to be pliable and obedient to the will of God (cf. Deut 30:6; Jer 4:4; 9:26).

¹² tn Heb “your neck do not harden again.” See note on the word “stubborn” in Deut 9:6.

¹³ tn Heb “circumcise” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “will give you and your descendents obedient hearts.” See note on the word “cleanse” in Deut 10:16.

¹⁴ tn Heb “seed” (so KJV, ASV).

¹⁵ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on the second occurrence of the word “he” in v. 3.

¹⁶ sn On circumcision is of the heart see Lev 26:41; Deut 10:16; Jer 4:4; Ezek 44:9.

¹⁷ tn Some have taken the phrase ἐν πνεύματι (en pneumati, “by/in [the] S/spirit”) not as a reference to the Holy Spirit, but referring to circumcision as “spiritual and not literal” (RSV).

¹⁸ tn Grk “letter.”

¹⁹ tn Grk “whose.” The relative pronoun has been replaced by the phrase “this person’s” and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started in the translation.

²⁰ tn Grk “of the faith, the one [existing] in uncircumcision.”

²¹ tn Grk “that he might be,” giving the purpose of v. 11a.

²² tn Grk “through uncircumcision.”

²³ tn The terms “however” and “but” in this sentence were supplied in order to emphasize the contrast.

²⁴ tn The articular noun τῇ ἀπεκδύσει (th apekdusei) is a noun which ends in -σις (-sis) and therefore denotes action, i.e., “removal.” Since the head noun is a verbal noun, the following genitive τοῦ σώματος (tou swmatos) is understood as an objective genitive, receiving the action of the head noun.

²⁵ tn Grk “in the removal of the body of flesh.” The genitive τῆς σαρκός (th" sarko") has been translated as an attributive genitive, “fleshly body.”

²⁶ tn The second prepositional phrase beginning with ἐν τῇ περιτομῇ (en th peritomh) is parallel to the prepositional phrase ἐν τῇ ἀπεκδύσει (en th apekdusei) and gives a further explanation of it. The words “that is” were supplied to bring out this force in the translation.